By Mary Hladky
The Boca Raton City Council has given top ranking to Boca Raton City Center to redevelop 30 city-owned acres around City Hall in what is touted as a transformative project for the downtown.
Four council members threw their support behind the company, a joint venture of Coconut Grove-based Terra and the Frisbie Group of Palm Beach. Only council member Andy Thomson supported Related Ross of West Palm Beach, headed by Miami Dolphins owner and Palm Beach resident Stephen Ross.
Two other contenders, Namdar Group of Great Neck, New York, and RocaPoint Partners of Atlanta, Georgia, received little City Council consideration.
With Boca Raton City Center the clear favorite, the council unanimously voted to give it first place ranking, with Related Ross getting second place.
The city now will begin negotiations with Boca Raton City Center to reach an interim development agreement. Should that fail, the city will turn to Related Ross.
Boca Raton City Center and Related Ross submitted the most comprehensive proposals and heavily courted council members.
Related Ross clearly demonstrated it was in the contest to win. At a Jan. 27 presentation of plans to the council, about 20 Related Ross executives dramatically strode into the chambers and claimed the first two rows of seats.
Stephen Ross played a highly visible role, stepping to the microphone at two meetings to extoll his company, its expertise and the quality of its proposal.
“We have a very different and bold vision for this community,” Ross told the council at a final presentation the day before the council vote. “The world is changing, and we believe Boca can be the center of that change.”
All four of the developers proposed mixed-use projects featuring new civic buildings, including a City Hall and Community Center to replace the outmoded and crumbling existing ones, residential, retail, office, hotel and green space.
Related Ross set itself apart by emphasizing new office space. It proposed three buildings totaling 975,000 square feet.
But when the council questioned that amount, company officials quickly offered to substitute residential for one of the office buildings.
Even so, they insisted there is a huge market for office buildings in the downtown, and constructing them would attract more major corporations to locate in the city.
Boca Raton City Center proposed the lowest density project with the largest amount of green space, an attractive pitch in a city where residents complain of overdevelopment and ever increasing traffic.
Rob Frisbie, managing partner of Frisbie Group, made that the centerpiece of his proposal, noting that his project has a substantially smaller building footprint than the others and would generate less traffic than a project dominated by office space.
The City Council majority was unconvinced that a large-scale office project was appropriate for the downtown, and expressed concern about the project’s density.
“Terra Frisbie won because it is the best choice for the community,” said Deputy Mayor Yvette Drucker.
The public will continue to be able to comment on the project at upcoming council meetings. An open house for public comment will be held on Feb. 19 at The Studio at Mizner Park from 6 to 8 p.m.
While council members have chosen their favored developer, they have not given the go-ahead to a specific development plan.
Boca Raton City Center’s conceptual proposal almost certainly will be revised as the developer and city engage in negotiations to draft an interim agreement, which city officials hope to finalize by March 18.
Several council members said they want revisions, although they did not offer specifics.
After that, both sides will negotiate a comprehensive agreement over a period of several months covering matters such as financing and design. The next step will be finalizing designs and a construction schedule.
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